Can I ask your advice re. Pre school and 2 year old

My DS is 26 months and currently attends my leisure centre run crèche 4x a week for around 2 hours a day whilst I work out. It's free as part of my membership and he gets to play with other children, eats his lunch at the table, some craft activities etc.

I have approached our local pre-school regarding signing him up for a funded placement when he turns three. It's attached to the primary he will be attending and I don't get the feeling it's oversubscribed but I admit I didn't ask. My question is do you think it's worth me paying for maybe one afternoon a week before he turns three so he can get a feel of the place and hopefully if there is a limited number of funded places it might help us secure one if he is already registered and attending?

No, he is already used to being left, so adjustment should not take that long.

Funded place should not be conditional on a child already attending the setting.

Do though factor in that to get the timings you may want, you may need to pay for some sessions at the pre-school, thus using some funded sessions and some paid for time.

See what the pre-school offers. They may not offer full 15 hours funded. You have plenty of time though until he starts school, so can take what is on offer, then increase the amount as he gets to age 4.

Thanks Cindy. I have the welcome pack and it seems to suggest they offer the full 15 hours funded which would be amazing as hopefully by then (assuming this pregnancy goes to plan) I'll have a newborn.

Perhaps look at this a different way. Remove funding from the decision.

Once sibling is born you may want him to get some time doing things he likes doing. You would not be using the gym creche as you may not be going to the gym much. So you may well want to pay for some sessions, two or three a week so that you get some 1:1 time with baby (you may both nap for a while) and he gets to play with children nearer his own age.

Then once funding kicks in you can take whatever funded sessions are on offer.

Depending how pregnancy goes, you may want to start sooner at the pre-school, so you get some rest. You can drop off at preschool go home and rest. Whereas at the gym you would not really rest that much whilst he was in creche.

Find out whether they would even offer a single session. We only offer a minimum of 2 sessions, spread over 2 days as in our experience, children find it hard to settle if they are only attending once a week.